


Flowers

by cyancandy



Series: SouMako Week 2015 [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: College, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sex Talk, SouMako Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 00:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4982920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyancandy/pseuds/cyancandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 1 for SouMako Week: Flower Language</p><p>Sousuke wants to do something for Makoto after his final exams - and Rin convinces him to be romantic for once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> So I did a bit of research on flower language for this and meanings can be very different and conflicted depending on the site or country? I found the Western flower language to be overwhelmingly huge, so I ended up going with the Japanese flower language called Hanakotoba. My research was light, so if there are any inaccuracies I apologize.

"Where's Makoto?" Rin said after Sousuke let him in, falling onto the couch like it was his bottom bunk back in high school. "Still out studying?"

Sousuke grunted. "He's got an exam tomorrow and another three days after that, and an essay due in between." Makoto did most of his studying at school; it made sense since it was more convenient and there were a lot of study spots, but Sousuke suspected that he had...distracted Makoto one too many times to grant him the privilege of studying in their own apartment.

Sousuke was in a different program and had finished up just a few days ago, and even before this hell week Makoto's semester had been particularly brutal. As much as Sousuke was glad to be spared what his boyfriend was going through, he felt bad every time Makoto came home almost too exhausted to change for bed. Nowadays Makoto was always out, or if he was home he was studying, sleeping, or on his way out the door, and Sousuke was really starting to miss him. So, unintentionally, he started counting down the days to Makoto’s last exam with zeal.

Rin's voice brought Sousuke back from his thoughts. "Fuck, this has been an awful couple of months for him." Sousuke was silent, in the middle of setting up a game when Rin continued, “Are you planning on doing something nice for him for the end of the semester?” 

Sousuke didn’t respond. No, he wasn’t planning on doing something nice for Makoto. Not because he didn’t want to, but because the thought had never crossed his mind. The only thing he had planned was waiting until Makoto came home after finishing his last exam, throwing him into their bedroom, and alternating between sex and cuddling until they had no choice but to leave the bed. As much as he liked the idea, he didn't realize until he started dating just how little he cared for or considered doing romantic things. Sousuke was the type to prefer small acts of love over the grand ones, but even with that preference he knew that the grand ones had their use. Luckily Makoto didn't seem to mind, but Sousuke was thankful that he had an overly romantic best friend to keep him on track.

“Oh, I know! You should get him flowers!” 

Okay, Sousuke wasn't that thankful. “Isn’t that something straight couples do? Or sentimental idiots like you?”

Rin tossed a pillow at Sousuke, which he let hit him without even attempting to dodge. “It’s something that couples do, and it’s romantic. And I’m not a sentimental idiot” (Sousuke rolled his eyes) “but if I am, then Makoto is one too.”

Despite his pouting, flowers didn't really sound like a bad idea. Sousuke knew there was a flower shop a couple blocks from their apartment, and just a moment of imagining Makoto's face after coming home from his final exam to find flowers made Sousuke mutter, "Fine, fine, I'll get him the damn flowers."

Rin whooped. “Just don’t get him sakura flowers - that’s my and Haru’s thing. Now give me that controller so I can kick your ass, nerd.”

\--

A few days later, after Makoto left the apartment early to do some last minute studying before his final exam, Sousuke entered the flower shop, stalked over to the woman at the counter, and said, “I need flowers.”

The woman jumped a bit (Sousuke figured that he must have been wearing what Rin said English speakers refer to as a "resting bitch face"), but after a moment she smiled. “Okay, well we definitely sell those!" she said with a gesture to the hundreds of flowers around them. "What kind of flowers do you need?” 

“Uh…” Sousuke rubbed at his shoulder out of nervous habit. “I don’t know? Pretty flowers?” 

That made the woman laugh. “Well, we definitely have pretty flowers. What’s the occasion?” When Sousuke just stared at her, she continued, “Family? Business? Celebration? Romantic?”

“Romantic,” Sousuke replied, hoping to keep the particulars of his relationship vague. After a moment he added, "And celebration?"

She nodded. “Alright. If you’d like I can help you with a standard flower arrangement, but it might be nice to do one based on flower language if it’s romantic, especially since you don't seem to have a preference in flowers.”

Sousuke only held back a bit of his groan. “Language? How complicated is this?”

The woman laughed. “Well, that depends. Do you want a more Western inspired arrangement, or Japanese?”

Within the next couple minutes Sousuke was briefly educated on the complicated world that was flower language. There were some that meant obvious things like love, happiness, and gratitude, but he was surprised to find that there were also more subtle ones as well, like sincerity, gentleness, and truth. After pointing out some flowers that could even mean things like hatred, immaturity, or desperation, Sousuke was almost tempted to ask her to make one for Rin as well.

In the end they went with a Japanese inspired arrangement, and the bouquet itself was fairly simply designed without looking plain. Sousuke suspected that she did this on purpose - after all, he spoke very little, and it would make sense that his arrangement in turn would be straightforward. 

"Thank you," Sousuke mumbled when he was finally handed the finished bouquet. He still had time, but he needed to get started cooking if he wanted their early dinner ready for when Makoto came home.

"You're welcome!" The woman replied. "I'm sure they'll love it."

Sousuke still had doubts about the whole thing, but he just gave her a nod and headed out the door. 

\-- 

Sousuke was almost done with the curry when he heard the front door being unlocked, and soon after came a tired, "I'm home!" The tired voice turned into tired footsteps that headed towards their room. 

"Hey. How was your exam?" Sousuke called after him. The apartment was small enough that he could be heard just by raising his voice. 

There was a dramatic sigh. "It went okay, I guess. We'll see."

Sousuke smiled a bit - he never knew Makoto to fail a test, but that didn't stop Makoto from thinking that every test he was about to take would be the exception.

Turning the stove to a low heat, Sousuke grabbed the bouquet sitting on the table and followed Makoto into their bedroom. He only caught a second of Makoto's bare back before he pulled on a new shirt, which almost made Sousuke regret not sticking to his original plan. Makoto turned to give Sousuke a smile when he heard him enter the room. “Hey, are you making green curry-?” Makoto began, but stopped when he saw the bouquet. “Oh, why do you have flowers?”

“Here,” he said, thrusting out the bouquet. 

Makoto hesitantly took the bouquet into his hands, as careful as if it were made of glass. “Flowers?” Makoto said. “You got me flowers?” His eyes were wide as he stared at the bouquet, and Sousuke couldn't guess at the expression on his face. 

"I...damn, judging by that reaction I don't do enough nice things for you, do I?" Sousuke smirked a little, knowing that’d get a rise out of his boyfriend, even if a bit of him believed what he said.

"No! You do! I'm just - I'm just surprised!" Makoto smiled. "And happy.” He studied them for a moment more before saying, “They’re beautiful, but I don’t think I’ve seen an arrangement like this before?” Makoto suddenly jumped, and looked up at Sousuke with a grin. "Oh, is this one of those flower meaning things?"

It was, but suddenly all the effort he went into the message wasn't worth the embarrassment of explaining it. "Maybe," Sousuke mumbled, making his way back to the kitchen.

"It is, isn't it! Tell me what it means!" Makoto was right at his heels, all trace of his exhaustion disappeared. Sousuke didn’t reply, instead returning to the stove and stirring the curry. “Sousukeee, tell me!” Makoto whined, burying his head into the crook of Sousuke's neck and shoulder. The nuzzling made him smile, but Sousuke just ignored him. 

With a soft head butt to Sousuke's back, Makoto murmured, “Fine. I’m putting them in a vase, but you better tell me what they mean when you're done cooking.”

That didn't take long. Sousuke almost wished he had started cooking later, but when all the food seemed as ready as it could be he turned to Makoto, who had his back to him as he filled up a glass vase with water. Sousuke waited until Makoto was at the table and gently placing the flowers into the water before he came up behind Makoto, wrapping his arms around Makoto’s torso and resting his head on Makoto’s shoulders. Makoto jumped a bit in surprise but Sousuke had expected that, waiting on kissing his neck until Makoto realized it was him. 

Sousuke took his hand from Makoto's chest and gestured to the small white flowers in the arrangement. “These flowers are Lilies of the Valley, and they mean sweetness. Because, you know, you're sweet, and being with you is sweet.” He could see Makoto’s ears turn red with a blush, so he added, “Also you are obsessed with sweet things and it's going to give you diabetes, so it's a warning too.” 

When Makoto laughed, Sousuke continued. “The pink roses are because roses mean love, but red ones are cliche so I went with pink instead. Pink ones specifically mean trust and happiness, so it’s fitting anyways.” He kissed Makoto on the cheek then before pointing to the last of the flowers. “And the hydrangeas mean pride, because this semester was shit for you but you worked your ass off anyways, and I'm proud of you and you should be proud of yourself." There he kissed Makoto against his jaw. "So, yeah. That's what the bouquet means."

When he finished Makoto turned to face Sousuke, wrapping his own arms around him. “You didn’t have to get me flowers,” Makoto mumbled into this shirt, trying in vain to hide his embarrassment.

Sousuke hid his own smile into Makoto's hair. “I didn’t? In that case I’ll go return them.”

Makoto wrenched his head away from Sousuke, pushing back his chest for good measure. “No, you stay away from my flowers!” He snapped, his words stern but his eyes mischievous. 

Sousuke just laughed, pulling Makoto back in by the belt loops of his pants until they could kiss properly. Only when their breaths were heavy and gasping did he breaking away, whispering onto his lips, “Fine by me. Tonight I’m following your orders.” With the look that Makoto gave him at those words, Sousuke knew they were going end up following his original plan after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Should have Prompt 2 up tomorrow and the others are getting worked on - I'm going to try to get them up on the proper days, but suddenly I have family in town so I'll try my best.


End file.
